JONESBORO, Ark. (5/11/13) – A familiar face will be returning to the Arkansas State University men’s basketball program as former A-State standout and Sun Belt Conference (SBC) Freshman of the Year Brandon Reed is joining the Red Wolves for the upcoming 2013-14 season.

Reed, who earned SBC Freshman of the Year honors for the 2009-10 season, played the past two seasons (2011-12 and 2012-13) at Georgia Tech after sitting out the 2010-11 campaign due to NCAA rules. The 6-4, 182-pound guard is eligible to play at A-State this 2013-14 season due to a NCAA rule which allows a student-athlete who has completed his degree requirements to transfer to another school and be immediately eligible without having to sit out for a season. The student-athlete must enroll in a program which their previous college doesn’t offer. Reed will complete his degree requirements at Georgia Tech this summer and earn a bachelor’s degree in sociology.

“We are excited about Brandon rejoining our program and enrolling in our master’s degree program,” said A-State head coach John Brady, who will begin his sixth year at ASU in the 2013-14 campaign. “He brings leadership, experience, and an ability to score the basketball. His family and I have visited in depth about this move and we all believe it will benefit all involved.”

In his first and only season (2009-10) at A-State, Reed paced the Red Wolves in scoring with a 15.1 points per game average and his team-high 469 points was the most scored by an ASU freshman in a single season, snapping a 38-year old school record previously held by Jerry Rook (1961-62; 416 pts.). Reed’s 15.1 points an outing would rank seventh among the Sun Belt Conference’s leader for all games while his 16.8 points a contest (303 pts.) in 18 conference encounters was fifth best in league games only. He also averaged 3.4 rebounds a contest (62 rebs.) and connected on 76.6 percent (52-67) at the charity stripe to go with 43 assists and 17 steals while playing a team-high 642 minutes in SBC action.

A starter in 30 of Arkansas State’s 31 contests in 2009-10, Reed registered per game averages of 3.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.7 steals, and 33.3 minutes a contest for the 2009-10 season as A-State produced a 17-14 overall record and a conference west division second-place 11-7 mark. Reed, who was a 2009-10 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District 24 Second-Team selection and an United States Basketball Writers of America All-District pick, shot 38.8 percent (107-276) from the floor and made a squad-most 37 three-point field goals in 114 attempts for a 32.5 percent success rate. Reed also went 52-for-67 (77.6 percent) at the free throw line as his 52 shots made from the stripe represented a team high.

Reed compiled double-figure scoring in 23 games, which included six outings with at least 20 points. The Atlanta, Ga., native poured in an ASU career game-high 34 points against Denver (1/30) at home and also netted 30 points in a home overtime matchup versus Western Kentucky (2/20).

At Georgia Tech, Reed registered two-year career averages of 6.4 points (391 pts.), 2.9 rebounds (177 rebs.), 1.2 assists (75 asts.), and 0.6 steals (37 stls.) as a starter in 43 of 61 contests. He shot 34.8 percent (134-385) from the field, including 31.8 percent in three-point field goal territory, to go with a 69.3 percent (61-88) success rate at the free throw line. Reed averaged career single-season highs in his initial 2011-12 year at Georgia Tech with a team sixth-best 7.5 points (234 pts.) and a squad sixth-highest 3.2 rebounds (100 rebs.) a contest, starting in 28 of 31 games played in. The combo guard attained double-figure points in 14 outings for the Yellow Jackets and surpassed 800 career points during his stint at Georgia Tech to amass a current 860 career points total.

As a prepster, Reed led Whitefield Academy to the Georgia Class A state title in 2009 as a senior and helped the Wolfpack to a state final championship game appearance all four years (2005-09). The 2009 Class A Player of the Year and first-team all-state selection averaged 21.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per outing during his senior season at Whitefield Academy. Reed was recognized as a three-star recruit by Rivals.com and earned the distinction as the Rivals.com’s top recruited shooting guard in the Sun Belt Conference for 2009-10

Reed, the son of Brian Sr. and Princess Elmore, is the cousin of former NFL running back Joe Cribbs and nephew of Missouri State Hall of Fame women’s basketball player Roshonda Reed.

Arkansas State finished the 2012-13 season with a 19-12 record as the Red Wolves compiled their most victories in a season since the 1997-98 campaign. A-State also won its second Sun Belt Conference (SBC) West Division title for the second time in the last three seasons by tallying a first-place 12-8 conference division ledger.